There is No Such Thing as a “Fair” Tax
Is Any Taxation The Answer?
Nothing in life is more certain than death and taxes. But the notion that there is or will ever be anything fair about either of these life realities, is just plain foolhardy.
Ever heard the phrase – you can’t get blood from a turnip…? Sounds like a silly old analogy from days gone by, but it happens to remain true today. People who can’t pay taxes don’t pay taxes, and that’s why people, who can pay, will always pay for everyone. Fairness isn’t even part of the equation.
In his July 11 Part III of his Economic Vision statement, presidential candidate Herman Cain does his best to pitch the “Fair Tax” – a libertarian economic proposal that offers to replace the federal income tax with a national sales (consumption) tax.
The Fair Tax concept would replace a federal tax on gross income with a national sales tax on everything you purchase. The allure is the idea of no more witholdings from your paycheck and that idea is embraced by a lot of people who are sick and tired of working 1/3 of their job for the federal government and then watching the federal government waste their earnings and then some.
But the problems with a national sales tax are significant.
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Harold
There IS a fair tax.Every citizen pays exactly the same amount. Screams from all say that won’t work because some have no money and some have lots. So you think that the prosperous one should pay more than the lazy one. – that’s clearly not fair. Then you say , yes but Marx’s idea of” From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” is the way to go. Nope that kills incentive – penalizes you for working hard and rewards you for goofing off . A nut in the back says ” what about widows and orphans ? Answer – not relevant to a discussion about who and how much should each pay for the exact same services – that discussion is about who should be charitable – or who should care for the poor . If a group dropped in from the planet Nibiru and said they were gonna set up a country the right way and they proceeded to copy the system we now have – nobody would want to be in that country. Nobody would want a system where one guy works his butt off and another stayed drunk or drugged up and they paid the mercenaries hired to protect the place based on how well they earned – in reverse – the more you work the more you pay – . Explain to me exactly why Bill Gates should pay more for any government service than the bum sleeping on a park bench . If anything one should be rewarded with a LOWER tax ( not rate – rate means some percentage ) if he causes many opportunities for others – . He breaths the same air, walks the same streets but is restrained in that he is far less inclined to risk his capitol here than where potential gain is more likely ..
Ralph B.
As a former Fairtax supporter, I can about guarantee you don’t know what Fairtax is. I was a fan of it for several years, before I stumbled on the footnotes and fine print.
Did you know, for example, that all military pensions are taxed — in advance — under fairtax? Don’t believe me? Read the fine print.
Did you know that the state government of Texas would have to pay 12 billion — 4 billion IN ADVANCE, per year, under Fairtax?
Don’t believe me? Read the fine print.
Did you know that less than 20% of Fairtax revenue would come from personal retail sales taxes, on things we usually tax on “sales”. That’s right – -over 80% of Fairtax revenue has little or nothing to do with a normal sales tax.
Don’t believe me? Read the fine print.
It took me another year to read what they call “research.”
In fact, I offer 50,000 dollars, seriously, if anyone can show me Fairtax research — see my video for details.
There is no real research — none. I don’t mean it’s flawed, I don’t mean it’s mistaken, I mean there is none. Literally, no research to support Fairtax as a personal consumption tax at the retail level at 23%, to be revenue neutral.
What they call “research” is nothing more than deceptive footnotes and fine print, and there is nothing “research” about it. Do you call a snake oil salesman a “researcher” who put together a deceptive lying speech?
Here is a clue — learn what Fairtax is. I’m offering real money, real 50,000 dollars, and I am not worried a bit. The offer is for research about a 23% personal retail consumption tax to replace all other federal taxes. No such research exists.
Yet that is the hustle Fairtax has pushed for 13 years now. In their books, videos, and speeches, they give the impression it’s a 23% personal consumption tax at retail level.
To get their 23% — Fairtax does have a personal retail tax, just like my car has an air conditioner. But my car is not an air conditioner. In fact, over 80% of Fairtax — the lion’s share — has little or nothing to do with a normal retail sales tax.
For example, Fairtax is a tax on all military PENSIONS. Military pensions are taxed. How is that retail?
The state goverment of Texas would have to pay 4 billion in advance, and another 8 billion on top of that. How is that retail?
New York City would have to pay over a billion dollars, just as a tax on the salaries and pensions of policemenn and firemen. New York City would owe 8 billion dollars altogether, each year, and 3 billion of that would be IN ADVANCE.
Somehow that part of Fairtax never makes into their speeches, It never makes it into the videos. It never makes it into their books (other than a vague sentence in the back of one book).
A normal sales tax is a small part of Fairtax. But almost all their supporters believe that is what Fairtax is, a normal sales tax. Utter nonsense. The world has never seen such a goofy tax, and it’s sure not a sales tax.
How are all the city and states supposed to pay this — it would be 800 billion dollars or more how are city counties and states supposed to pay?
See Fairtax fine print — don’t bother with the video, books, speeches, you wont find it there. City counties and states, Fairtax fine print tells us, should “raise their taxes”.
Show me the research for that. Does hiding things in footnotes and fine print constitute “research” Not in my book. Research is not an activity done to fool stupid and gullible people by deciet or ommission. That is essentially all Fairtax is.
St Louis Missouri, the city government, would have to pay some 200 million. Chicago city government, 600 million, 200 million or more in ADVANCE.
All 20,000 city governments in the US, all 3000 or so county governments, all fifty states, would have to pay MASSIVE taxes. Fairtax hides this in double talk and fine print and footnotes.
Fairtax spokesmen — James Bennett, David Kendall, and Ross Calloway not only admit this, they brag about it. There is simply no dispute that this massive tax on city, state, and county government is very much part of their plan, very much central to how their math “adds up”
Yet they have NEVER spoken to any city official about this, EVER. James Bennett, the “education” expert at Fairtax, said “We have no specific plans to tell city and states about this”. He said it’s in their legislation, if they read it closely, they will see it. And if they don’t like it, simple — don’t vote for it.
David Kendall, another official spokesmen for Fairtax, tries to pass HR25 as just ” asking city and states to pay.” Yet they have never asked. Hiding this in the footnotes, never mentioning it in any speech, video, or book (except in one vague sentence in one book, in the back of the book) is not ASKING. Yet with a straight face Kendall tries to act like they are simply “asking”.
What total nonsense.
My offer stands — 50,000 dollars. There is no research — at all — about a 23% personal consumption retail tax. An advance tax on all city pensions, is not a retail tax. Too hard for you to grasp? An advance tax on all state pensions, is not a retail tax. Too hard for you to grasp?
Do you seriously think the State of Texas will send in 4 billion — in advance — and another 8 billion on top of that, because of a FOOTNOTE — footnote 19? Fairtax hides this goofy “in advance” part in a footnote.
You think the state legislature of Texas, and every other state, is going to say “OH, that’s fine, here, who do we make out these checks — 300 billion in advance — to?
Do you think that’s going to happen?
Do you think Fairtax researched that?
No. They only thing they did is pay Beacon Hill con artist to hide this crap in their footnotes and fine print. That is not research. Hiding your deception is not research.
So get your 50,000 dollars. It should be a simple matter. Just send me a link to such “research”. SInce it does not exist, you can not send it or link it.
Since this offer, no Fairtax leader has dared to contradict a thing I say — because I got my information FROM them. I got it FROM their own mouths, from their own legislation, from their own publications, from their own math. They have hid this crap around in a few words here, a few words there, trying their best to gloss over it, or cover it up altogether.
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